System and method for enabling subscribers of a communications carrier to access a network of other subscribers

ABSTRACT

A system and method for enabling subscribers of a communications carrier to communicate over a network of wireless access points of other consumer subscribers of the communications carrier is provided. In response to a wireless device of a user attempting to access a wireless access point of a subscriber, a database may be queried to determine whether the user of the wireless device is a subscriber of the communications carrier and has a subscription agreement enabling the subscriber to access a communications network via the network of wireless access points of other consumer subscribers. The subscriber may be enabled to access the wireless access point within the network of wireless access points in response to determining that the subscriber has a subscription agreement enabling communication over the communications network via the network of wireless access points of other consumer subscribers.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communications have become pervasive in recent years. At first,telecommunications provided cordless handsets to enable consumers to usea home telephone without being restricted by a telephone cord. Mobiletelephones further provided freedom to consumers by enabling them to usea telephone while away home. Finally, computers that were once attachedto a wall socket to communicate over the Internet became wirelessthrough the use of wireless routers and other wireless access points.

Mobility further expanded by commercial wireless access points becomingavailable and proliferating throughout society. Broadband wirelessaccess points have become available at coffee shops, airports, hotels,and other commercial locations. These commercial wireless access pointshave become available for a number of reasons, including attractingcomputer users who enjoy accessing the Internet and generating networkaccess fees. Commercial access points are provided by a commercialestablishment becoming a reseller of network access. For example,Starbucks® coffee shops are resellers of T-Mobile® communicationsservices. Each of these commercial companies financially benefit whenusers access the T-Mobile® communications network via the wirelessaccess points within Starbucks®.

One situation that has developed by wireless routers becoming sopervasive is non-subscribers accessing wireless routers and networkservices being paid by their consumer subscriber neighbors. Thissituation arises when a consumer subscriber does not password protectaccess to the wireless router. In the case of a non-subscriber'sunauthorized access of a subscriber's wireless router, this act isconsidered theft of wireless communications services. In the case wherethe subscriber knowingly allows for non-subscribers to access thewireless router, such an act is generally prohibited by terms andconditions of consumer service agreements between the service providerand the consumer subscriber.

Another situation that has developed is one where a third-patty,non-communications carrier sells wireless routers that are connected tonetwork connections of subscribers of communications carriers. Thethird-party, non-communications carrier sells subscription agreements tocustomers to access a network via these wireless routers. The customersof the third-party, non-communications carrier are able to connect tothe network via the wireless routers without having to pay thecommunications carriers, thereby saving money. However, suchconfigurations and subscription agreements are against the terms andconditions of subscription agreements of the subscribers of thecommunications carriers because, in effect, those subscribers providingaccess to non-subscribers are operating as resellers of network access.In some cases, the subscribers that provide access to non-subscribersare paid by the third-party, non-communications carrier to provideaccess to subscribers of the third-party, non-communications carriernetwork.

While wireless routers have enabled computer users to access theInternet with unprecedented freedom, bandwidth of these routers arerelatively slow. Today's technology provides users with 50 megabit (MB)per second communications. However, these speeds are relatively slowwhen downloading large amounts of content, such as a movie.

A number of third-party bandwidth expansion products have been developedto increase bandwidth to those who purchase these bandwidth expansionproducts. One such product provides a subscriber with a device toaggregate bandwidth from local wireless routers. Essentially,communication with each local wireless router is performed in parallel.However, the act of bandwidth pooling by consumer non-resellers is alsoconsidered a violation of the terms and conditions of a communicationscarrier's subscription agreement because non-subscribers or users otherthan the subscriber who owns the wireless router are provided access tothe wireless routers and telecommunications services without paying atelecommunications carrier for that access or expanded access.

SUMMARY

To overcome the problem of subscribers of a communications carrier tohave access to a communications network provided by the communicationscarrier, the communications carrier may provide a subscription agreementhaving terms and conditions that enable consumer subscribers to accessthe communications network via a network of wireless access points ofother consumer subscribers. This subscription agreement provides forintra-network roaming of the communications carrier.

One embodiment for enabling subscribers of a communications carrier tocommunicate over wireless access points of other consumer subscribers ofthe communications carrier includes a system including a storage unitconfigured to store at least one database including informationidentifying consumer subscribers and associated subscriber subscriptionagreements provided by a communications carrier. The system may includea network of wireless access points associated with the consumersubscribers of the communications carrier. At least one of thesubscription agreements may enable consumer subscribers to accesswireless access points of other consumer subscribers of thecommunications carrier to communicate over a communications network Acomputing system may be in communication with the storage unit and thenetwork of wireless access points of the consumer subscribers, where thecomputing system may be configured to (i) receive a request signal froma wireless device of a user via a wireless access point of a consumersubscriber of the communications carrier to communicate over thecommunications network (ii) query the database(s) stored in the storageunit to determine whether the user is a subscriber of the communicationscarrier and has a subscription agreement enabling the subscriber tocommunicate over the communications network via the network of wirelessaccess points of other consumer subscribers, and (iii) enable thewireless device to access the wireless access point in response todetermining that the subscriber has a subscription agreement enablingthe subscriber to communicate over the communications network via thenetwork of wireless access points of other consumer subscribers.

An embodiment for enabling subscribers of a communications carrier tocommunicate over wireless access points of other consumer subscribers ofthe communications carrier may include a process for receiving a requestsignal from a wireless device of a user via a wireless access point of aconsumer subscriber of a communications carrier to communicate over acommunications network A database may be queried to determine whetherthe user is a subscriber of the communications carrier and has asubscription agreement enabling the subscriber to communicate over thecommunications network via the network of wireless access points ofother consumer subscribers. The wireless device may be enabled to accessthe wireless access point within the network of wireless access pointsin response to determining that the subscriber has a subscriptionagreement enabling the subscriber to communicate over the communicationsnetwork via the network of wireless access points of other consumersubscribers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described indetail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which areincorporated by reference herein and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a system for a communications carrier toprovide wireless communications services to consumer subscribers;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a system showing components within thesystem for consumer subscribers to access a communications network viawireless access points of other consumer subscribers of thecommunications carrier;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for determining that aconsumer subscriber is a subscriber with rights to roam within thenetwork of wireless access points of a communications carrier andconnect to a wireless access point of another consumer subscriber of thecommunications carrier;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for determining that auser is a subscriber of aggregated wireless communications services;

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of an exemplary log-in webpage for a consumersubscriber to access a wireless access point of another subscriberwithin a network of wireless access points of a communications carrier;and

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of an exemplary webpage for enabling anon-subscriber user to temporarily pay for network communicationsservices via a consumer subscriber wireless access point.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a system 100 of a communications carrier102 for providing wireless network communications services to consumersubscribers at residential locations 104 a-104 n. The subscribers mayaccess the wireless communications services at the residential locations104 a-104 n (collectively 104), such as a house, via wireless accesspoints 106 a-106 n (collectively 106). The wireless communicationsservices may be in the form of broadband or other communicationsprotocols. The wireless access points 106 may be wireless routers or anyother wireless access points that enables users to have wireless accessto a communications network A wireless access point 106 a may includemultiple antennas 108 a(1)-108 a(2) (collectively 108 a) that areutilized to communicate with a user within the residential location 104a and user outside of the residential location 104 a. A communicationspath (not shown), including a transceiver and other communicationsdevices as understood in the art, may be included within the wirelessaccess point 106 a for communicating via each antenna 108 a(1) and 108a(2). In one embodiment, the wireless access point 106 a may communicatewith a personal computer 110 or other device over a cable 112 using anEthernet communications protocol or other communications protocol. Inaddition, a user may communicate with the wireless access point 106 ausing a wireless device 114 a, such as a personal computer, mobiletelephone, or other wireless device for communicating over acommunications network 116 (e.g., the Internet).

In communicating with the wireless access point 106 a, the wirelessdevice 114 a may wirelessly communicate using data packets 118 using awireless communications protocol, such as WiFi, WiMax, or any otherwireless communications protocol for communicating voice and/or dataover the network 116. The data packets 118 may be communicated via thewireless access point 106 a and over the network 116.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a network ofwireless access points 106 is formed by the consumer subscribers havingwireless access points being served by the communications carrier. Thesubscribers of the communications carrier may have a subscriptionagreement that provides for wireless access to wireless access points ofother consumer subscribers of the communications carrier and allows forother consumer subscribers to access their respective wireless accesspoints (“intra-network roaming” subscription agreement). For example, aconsumer subscriber having an intra-network roaming subscriptionagreement with the communications carrier 102 enables the consumersubscriber using the wireless device 114 a to access wireless accesspoints 106 o or 106 n of other consumer subscribers to communicate overthe communications network 116.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the wirelessaccess points 106 may have a private communications interface and apublic wireless communications interface. In one embodiment, each of theprivate and public wireless communications interfaces may be incommunication with respective antennas 108 a(1) and 108 a(2).Alternatively, both may be in communication with a single antenna 108a(1). The private wireless communications interface may be one that asubscriber at the residential location 104 a may access, but no otherssubscribers may access. The public wireless communications interface maybe an interface that both the subscriber located at the residentiallocation 104 a may use and a subscriber other than one located at theresidential location 104 a may utilize. In other words, subscribershaving an intra-network roaming subscription agreement may access any ofthe wireless access points 106 that are within communication range oftheir respective wireless devices. Of course, a subscriber who owns thewireless access point 106 a may be given priority over other subscribersaccessing their wireless access points. For example, if the subscriberwho owns the wireless access point 106 a decides to download a moviefrom the network 116, that movie download would be given priority overother subscribers who are accessing the wireless access point 106 a.

In one embodiment, the communications carrier 102 provides asubscription agreement that allows for consumer subscribers to aggregatebandwidth from multiples wireless access points 106. In this case, if awireless device, such as wireless device 114 n operated by a subscriberwho has a subscription agreement that enables bandwidth aggregation, iswithin range of multiple wireless access points 106 o and 106 n, thenthe wireless device 114 n may use unused bandwidth from the wirelessaccess points 106 o and 106 n.

As shown, each of the residential locations is provided a certainbandwidth. More specifically, residential location 104 a receives a 5 MBbandwidth, residential location 104 o receives a 10 MB bandwidth, andresidential location 104 n receives a 30 MB bandwidth. These bandwidthsare paid for by each of the respective subscribers, where the subscriberat residential location 104 a may pay less for a 5 MB bandwidth than asubscriber at residential location 104 n with a 30 MB bandwidth. If thesubscriber at residential location 104 a is within wirelesscommunication range of the wireless access point 106 o, the aggregatedwireless communications for the subscriber at residential location 104 ais potentially a 15 MB bandwidth (i.e., the sum of the 5 MB and 10 MBbandwidths) while communicating with both the wireless access points 106a and 106 o. If the subscriber at residential 104 o is in wirelesscommunication range of wireless access points 106 a and 106 n, then thesubscriber may have 45 MB bandwidth (i.e., the sum of the 5 MB, 10 MB,and 30 MB bandwidth), and if the subscriber at residential location 104n is in wireless communication range of the wireless access point 106 o,then the subscriber at residential location 104 n has a 40 MB bandwidth(i.e., the sum of the 10 MB and 30 MB bandwidth) while communicatingwith both wireless access points 106 o and 106 n.

FIG. 2 illustration of a system 200 showing components within the systemfor consumer subscribers to access a communications network via wirelessaccess points other consumer subscribers of the communications carrier.Additionally, the system 200 may be configured to provide subscriberswith aggregated wireless communications. The system 200 may includewireless device 202 used by a subscriber that may be a personalcomputer, laptop computer, telephone, game, or any other device that mayutilize wireless communications. The wireless device 202 may include aprocessor 204 that executes software 206 that is utilized for providingfunctionality for the user of the wireless device 202 and provideswireless communications to enable the user to communicate with remotelocations. The processor 204 may be in communication with a memory 208that is used for storing data and executable software, input/output(I/O) unit 210 that performs communications with remote locations, andstorage unit 212 that may store data for the wireless device 202. Anantenna 213 may be in communication with the I/O unit 210 for performingwireless communications to remote devices.

A wireless access point 214 a may include a processor 216 that executessoftware 218. The software 218 may provide for both private and publicwireless interface communications. The processor 216 may be incommunication with memory 220 and I/O unit 222. Antennas 223 a and 223 bmay be in communication with the I/O unit 222 for providing both privateand public wireless communications services to subscribers within rangeof the wireless access point 214 a. The software 218 may be configuredto enable owners of the wireless access point 214 a to have unrestrictedaccess to the wireless access point 214 a and have priority for wirelesscommunications with the wireless access point 214 a over non-owners(i.e., other subscribers who are using the public wirelesscommunications interface to access a network or to aggregate wirelesscommunications bandwidth) accessing the wireless access point 214 a. Thewireless access point 214 a may be in communication with acommunications network 224, such as a telecommunications networkInternet, or other communications network. In one embodiment, thenetwork 224 is a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

A server 226, which may be operated by a communications carrier or otherservice provider, may include a processor 228 that executes software230. The processor 228 may be in communication with memory 232, I/O unit234, and storage unit 236. Data repositories 237 a-237 n (collectively237) may be stored on the storage unit 236 and be utilized to storesubscriber information of the service provider. The data repositories237 may include one or more databases. In one embodiment, data stored inthe data repositories 237 include information about subscribers who havesubscription agreements that provide for intra-network roaming wirelessaccess of a communications network via wireless access points of othersubscribers. In another embodiment, the subscribers may have asubscription agreement to receive aggregated wireless communicationsservices, such that the subscribers, in addition to being able to accessother subscribers' wireless access points, may also simultaneouslyaccess multiple wireless access points 214 a-214 n to receive increasedwireless communications bandwidth.

The software 230 may be configured to determine when a wireless deviceis attempting to access a wireless access point 214 a to determinewhether the wireless device is owned by the owner of the wireless accesspoint. In the case of the wireless access point 214 a having a privateand public wireless communications interface, the determination may bemade to determine whether the wireless device is attempting to accessthe private or public wireless communications interface. Thisdetermination may be made in conjunction with software executing on thewireless access point 214 a. For example, software being executed by thewireless access point 214 a may (i) receive a signal, includinginformation representative of a wireless device (e.g., device number orIP address), from a wireless device attempting to communicate with thewireless access point 214 a and (ii) communicate the signal to theserver 226 for the software 230 to compare the informationrepresentative of the wireless device with the information stored in thedata repositories 237 to determine whether the wireless device iscommunicating with a home wireless access point or a wireless accesspoint of another subscriber of the communications carrier. If thewireless device is not owned by the owner of the wireless access point214 a, then a determination may be made as to whether the user has asubscription agreement that enables him or her to access the network ofwireless access points of subscribers of the communications carrier. Ifit is determined that the user is a subscriber of the communicationscarrier that enables intra-network roaming, then a determination may bemade as to whether the subscriber has a subscription agreement thatprovides for aggregated wireless communications services. If the user isnot a subscriber of intra-network roaming or aggregated wirelesscommunications services, then the software 206 and/or 230 may interceptand prevent such unauthorized access and enable the user to pay forlimited access (see, FIGS. 4 and 5).

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 300 for determiningthat a consumer subscriber is a subscriber with rights to roam within anetwork of wireless access points of a communications carrier andconnect to a wireless access point of another consumer subscriber of thecommunications carrier. The process 300 starts at step 302. At step 304,a request is received from a wireless device of a user via a wirelessaccess point of another consumer subscriber within a network of wirelessaccess points associated with consumer subscribers of a communicationscarrier. Optionally, a determination that the wireless device of thesubscriber is accessing a wireless access point of another consumersubscriber within the network of wireless access points may be made. Atstep 306, a database is queried to determine whether the user is asubscriber of the communications carrier and has a subscriptionagreement enabling the subscriber to access the network of wirelessaccess points of other consumer subscribers. The wireless device isenabled to access the wireless access point within the network ofwireless access points in response to determining that the subscriberhas a subscription agreement with the communications carrier enablingaccess to the network of wireless access points of other consumersubscribers at step 308. Being able to access a wireless access pointwithin a network of wireless access points of other subscribers, inessence, allows the consumer subscriber to roam within the network ofwireless access points hosted by the communications carrier. The processends at step 310.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 400 for determiningthat a user is a subscriber of aggregated wireless communicationsservices. The process 400 starts at step 402. At step 404, adetermination is made that a wireless device attempts to communicatewith a wireless access point of a network of wireless access points ofother subscribers of the communications carrier. At step 406, adetermination is made as to whether the user of the wireless device hasa subscription agreement to communicate with multiple wireless accesspoints of the network of wireless access points of the communicationscarrier to aggregate bandwidth from the wireless access points. At step408, the wireless device is enabled to communicate with the wirelessaccess points if the user has the subscription agreement allowing foraggregated wireless communication services. The process may beimplemented using software and/or hardware of a communications carrier.The process ends at step 410.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of an exemplary log-in webpage 500 for aconsumer subscriber to access a wireless access point of anothersubscriber within a network of wireless access points of acommunications carrier. The webpage 500 may be generated and prompted toa user of a wireless device in response to a wireless device of theconsumer subscriber attempting to access a wireless access point of thenetwork of wireless access points. The webpage 500 may request user nameand password input fields 502 and 504, respectively. If the user is nota subscriber of intra-network roaming of the communications carrier,then the user may select a soft-button 506 indicating that he or she isnot a subscriber. In response, the user may be provided another webpage(FIG. 6) to receive an access pass to temporarily access the network. Itshould be understood that the user may set up automatic login parametersthat are requested by a wireless access device of the network todetermine whether the subscriber is a subscriber with an intra-networkroaming subscription agreement. By setting up the automatic loginparameters, the user may avoid having to go through the log-in webpage500, thereby making the user's experience seamless within the network ofconsumer subscribers of the communications carrier. It should beunderstood that interfaces other than Web pages may be utilized toinput, store and deliver authentication information from the electronicdevice to the network so that future access to the network(s) isseamlessly enabled for the user. Interfaces may include softwareapplications or hardware devices that uniquely identify the user andallow authentication and access to the network

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of an exemplary webpage 600 for enabling a userwho is not a subscriber to temporarily pay for communications servicesvia a wireless access point of a subscriber of a communications carrier.The webpage 600 may provide a message 602 that notifies the user that heor she is attempting to access the consumer subscriber network of thecommunications carrier and that he or she is not a subscriber. The usermay select a time period in a selectable element 604 that he or shewishes to have access to the wireless aggregation network. The user mayenter payment type (e.g., credit card) in a selectable element 606, suchas a pull-down menu, name in a text entry field 608, and expiration dateof the payment type in a selectable element 510. Software at a centrallocation (e.g., software 230 executing on server 226 of FIG. 2) maystore the user's information and enable the user utilizing a wirelessdevice to have access to the consumer subscriber network for theselected time period. At the end of the time period, the user may beprompted with another webpage that allows the user to extend the timeperiod or become a subscriber of the consumer subscriber network. Itshould be understood that similar interfaces may be provided to the userif aggregate wireless communications are available to the user. In otherwords, a webpage may enable a consumer subscriber and/or non-subscriberto use aggregate wireless communications, if the user has not previouslyestablished parameters on his or her wireless device.

The previous detailed description is of a small number of embodimentsfor implementing the invention and is not intended to be limiting inscope. One of skill in this art will immediately envisage the methodsand variations used to implement this invention in other areas thanthose described in detail. The following claims set forth a number ofthe embodiments of the invention disclosed with greater particularity.

1. A system for enabling subscribers of a communications carrier tocommunicate over wireless access points of other consumer subscribers ofthe communications carrier, said system comprising: a storage unitconfigured to store at least one database including informationidentifying consumer subscribers and associated subscriber subscriptionagreements provided by a communications carrier, a network of wirelessaccess points associated with the consumer subscribers of thecommunications carrier, at least one of the subscription agreementsenabling consumer subscribers to access wireless access points of otherconsumer subscribers of the communications carrier to communicate over acommunications network; and a computing system in communication withsaid storage unit and the network of wireless access points of theconsumer subscribers, said computing system configured to: receive arequest signal from a wireless device of a user via a wireless accesspoint of a consumer subscriber of the communications carrier tocommunicate over the communications network; query the at least onedatabase stored in said storage unit to determine whether the user ofthe wireless device is a subscriber of the communications carrier andhas a subscription agreement enabling the subscriber to communicate overthe communications network via the network of wireless access points ofother consumer subscribers; and enable the wireless device to access thewireless access point in response to determining that the user is asubscriber of the communications carrier and has a subscriptionagreement enabling the subscriber to communicate over the communicationsnetwork via the network of wireless access points of other consumersubscribers.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wirelessaccess points include broadband wireless routers.
 3. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said computing system is furtherconfigured to query the wireless device for a user ID and a password. 4.The system according to claim 3, wherein said computing system isfurther configured to query the at least one database to determinewhether the user ID and password are stored in the at least one databaseand related to a subscriber having a subscription agreement enablingaccess to the communications network via wireless access points of othersubscribers.
 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said system isfurther configured to determine whether a user of the wireless devicehas a subscription agreement to communicate with multiple wirelessaccess points to aggregate bandwidth therefrom.
 6. The system accordingto claim 1, wherein the wireless device is a personal computer.
 7. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein the wireless device has prioritywhen communicating with a home wireless access point of the consumersubscriber over wireless devices of other consumer subscriberscommunicating with the home wireless access point of the subscriber. 8.The system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless access points areconfigured with a private communications interface and a publiccommunications interface, the wireless device communicating with thepublic communications interface of at least one of the wireless accesspoints.
 9. The system according to claim 1, wherein said computingsystem is further configured to: determine that a second signal receivedfrom a second wireless device is not from a subscriber of thecommunications carrier; and query the wireless device to determinewhether a second user of the second wireless device is willing to pay anaccess fee for communicating with the wireless access point of aconsumer subscriber.
 10. The system according to claim 9, wherein saidcomputing system is further configured to provide access to thecommunications network via said network of wireless access points for aduration of time selected by the second user.
 11. A method for enablingsubscribers of a communications carrier to communicate over wirelessaccess points of other consumer subscribers of the communicationscarrier, said method comprising: receiving a request signal from awireless device of a user via a wireless access point of a consumersubscriber of a communications carrier to communicate over acommunications network; querying a database to determine whether theuser of the wireless device is a subscriber of the communicationscarrier and has a subscription agreement enabling the subscriber toaccess the communications network via a network of wireless accesspoints of other consumer subscribers; and enabling the wireless deviceto access the wireless access point in response to determining that theuser is a subscriber of the communications carrier and has asubscription agreement enabling the subscriber to communicate over thecommunications network of via wireless access points of other consumersubscribers.
 12. The method according to claim 11, further comprisingreceiving a request signal from a wireless device via a wireless accesspoint includes receiving a broadband signal.
 13. The method according toclaim 11, further comprising querying the wireless device to determine auser ID and password of the subscriber.
 14. The method according toclaim 13, further comprising querying the database to determine whetherthe user ID and password are stored in the database and related to asubscriber having a subscription agreement enabling access to thecommunications network via wireless access points of other subscribers.15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising determiningwhether the subscriber of the wireless device has a subscriptionagreement to communicate with multiple wireless access points toaggregate bandwidth therefrom.
 16. The method according to claim 11,further comprising prioritizing communications of the wireless devicewhen communicating with a home wireless access point of the subscriberover other wireless devices communicating with the home wireless accesspoint of the subscriber.
 18. The method according to claim 11, furthercomprising receiving communications from the wireless device from apublic communications interface of at least one of the wireless accesspoints of the consumer subscribers having a private communicationsinterface and a public communications interface.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 11, further comprising: determining that a secondsignal received from a second wireless device is not from a subscriberof the communications carrier, and querying the wireless device todetermine whether a user of the second wireless device is willing to payan access fee for communicating over the communications network via thenetwork of wireless access points of consumer subscribers of thecommunications carrier.
 20. The method according to claim 19, furthercomprising receiving a selection of a duration of time for which accessto the communications network is to be provided to the user.